how to make curly ribbon in the oven

How to Make Ribbon into Curly Ribbon

This has to be one of our most inspiring craft ideas so far… How to Make Curly Ribbon!!!  Imagine the crafts you can create with this unique ribbon that is easily made with grosgrain ribbon and wood dowels.  Simply wrap ribbon around dowels and bake in the oven.  Allow to cool, remove dowel, and it stays curly.  Not sure how it works, but sure glad it does.  There are so many crafts this curly ribbon will be useful for!  Who would have thought you could take satin or grosgrain ribbon and make it permanently curly by baking it in an oven?

how to make curly ribbon

Below you will find the process for making curly ribbon.  Our next few posts will feature inspiring craft ideas with curly ribbon.  Here is a sampling of what is to come:  Bottle Caps & Curly Ribbon Headbands,  Hair Clips with Curly Ribbon, and Curly Ribbon Paperclip Bookmarks.  In the meantime, start by using curly ribbon on gift bags and for all those Christmas Presents this holiday season!

Supplies Needed:

Directions for Making Curly Ribbon:

1.  Line oven rack with foil and pre-heat to 275 degrees.

2.  Using a wood clothespin (do not use painted clothespins), attach the end of ribbon to wood dowel and begin twisting ribbon around dowel.  Ribbon will have the same “curl” after it is baked and removed from the dowel.  Therefore, wrap the ribbon exactly how you want it to look once it is done… tight small curls or wide loose curls.  For even spirals, take your time wrapping the ribbon around the dowel.  When you get to the end of the dowel, cut excess ribbon and attach clothespin to the end to secure.

wrap ribbon around wood dowel and secure with clothespin

Here is an example of a few different ribbon colors wrapped on assorted size dowels.  Below we used 3/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon on 5/16, 1/4, and 3/8″ wood dowels.  There is no magic ribbon width, though!  This can be done with 1/4 – 7/8″ ribbon just the same.  Be creative and have fun with this idea.  It works so well we had trouble stopping with just these samples…

ribbon wrapped on dowels... make curly ribbon

3.  Place dowels (with ribbon and clothespins) on foil and bake for 25 minutes at 275 degrees.  There should be no smell or change to the color of the ribbon.  Do not over bake.   Remove from the oven after 25 minutes and allow to cool completely.  Once cooled, remove clothespins from the wood dowels.

remove clothespins from ribbon dowels

4.  Now the fun part… remove the ribbon from the dowels by simply sliding it off the end.

make curly ribbon

Still hard to believe that this actually works!

curly ribbon made in the oven

5.  Time to create!  Curly ribbon can be cut to any length.  We will feature a few useful ways to use this amazing curly ribbon very soon.  In the meantime, we have to get started wrapping Christmas Gifts with this fun ribbon.  No one will ever guess we made it by baking the ribbon in the oven!

Before:

grosgrain ribbonAfter: 

how to make curly ribbon in the oven

Tell us what you think!  Post a comment below~

Blessings,

Inspire-Create

1 reply
  1. Cindi Meissner
    Cindi Meissner says:

    Awesome, Fantastic idea, who a thought of doing this is a genius.
    Thanks for sharing this idea
    Cindi L.Meissner

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